Does clean + green = MORE green?

As the “green movement” rolls on, a CPG manufacturing company develops a concept for a new green household cleaning product. But they have seen several competitors fail in the same space. They want to determine appeal and demand for the product, and identify the target consumer, before they put all their eggs in one bucket.

OBJECTIVES

Three key objectives are set:

1. Establish top buyers’ personas.
First things first – research is used to discover the most loyal and profitable female consumers for a green household cleaner. In-depth profiles of the top three personas are then established.

2. Determine the appeal and demand for the concept.
Determine the level of interest of the top female consumers – how much will they truly want this new product? Research discovers if our target female consumers see the new concept as meeting a need they have, a product they can connect with emotionally, and, most importantly, a product they feel empowered to buy repeatedly.

3. Identify insights to leverage in communications.
From the research implemented to achieve the first two objectives, the analysts pull insights that show precisely how to communicate with the target consumer. These insights are used to craft key messaging that will resonate on an emotional level with the female consumer, deliver the selling points that research has determined she will respond to, and inspire her to “join” the company’s brand..

SERVICES

For this project, the primary service required is:

Concept Validation (link to more info below)
Validation of a new concept or product requires extensive research, typically on multiple levels. First, to determine the segment(s) of the market in which the most profitable and loyal consumers are likely to be found. Second, to gain a deep and thorough understanding of how they respond to the product, corporate brand, message, and other variables BEFORE the company invests heavily in the venture. A moderate investment in validation research up front often prevents large amounts of wasted capital on failed ideas after the fact.

In addition to Concept Validation, this project also requires:

Advisory Services (link to more info below)
The company initiates a 6-month Advisory Services program. This program gives the company ready access to research analysts who can offer insights and advice during the product launch period as the company works with its agency and other partners to introduce the new cleaner to consumers across the country.

METHODOLOGIES

The advanced research tools chosen for this project are:

Online Discussion GroupsThe initial research is conducted with an online discussion group of 15-20 women in the target consumer groups. In this study, the respondents first discuss their usage and perceptions of cleaning products in general. Then, the green product concept is presented to them in verbal and visual form. After they have a chance to examine and read about it, they are asked various questions on its overall appeal, features, weaknesses, benefits, messaging and their purchase intent. This professionally moderated study is conducted over a 2-3 day period with each participant required to log into the system twice per day to answer questions from a Discussion Guide. This provides both a qualitative evaluation of the new concept as well as insights into possible changes to enhance the concept.

Online Quantitative StudyTo further verify the findings from the online discussion group, an online quantitative study is conducted among a larger sample size of target audience consumers. This again presents the new concept and key messaging to the respondents to validate the appeal of the concept and provide a demand projection prior to introduction.

RESULTS

(Due to the confidential nature of research projects and client agreements in force, specific results cannot be share. Outcomes have been synthesized based on an amalgam of results from similar projects.)

The company finds the most value in the detailed profiles of their three top buyer personas. They find extreme value in knowing what their most loyal and profitable customers like and don’t like about their brand, their products, and even about their new green cleaner. They decide to take the new product to market. The research reveals that, while the demand isn’t projected to be quite as high as they had hoped, the perception and goodwill it projects onto their brand is through the roof with their target consumer and they see an incredible value to that as well.

In addition, and like most validation projects, the research yields an invaluable list of key messages that resonate with the target audience. Not surprisingly, many of those messages include the “green” theme.